Facebook's Weird New Way Of Tackling Fake News Is Actually A Bit Genius

4 July 2017, 12:25

By Liam Dryden

Facebook oversharers beware!

So everybody has that one friend on Facebook that they see on their feed a little too often. Whether it's an old high school friend or an aunt on a pyramid scheme; you know an oversharer when you see one. But these people are about to become detrimental in Facebook's fight against fake news - and they don't even have to change a thing.

An algorithm update from Facebook will target spammers in an effort to combat "fake news".

The system seems pretty simple on paper: Links shared by people who post to Facebook upwards of 50 times per day will be identified; then Facebook's algorithm will proceed to limit the reach of those links. It doesn't seem to distinguish between reputable sources and spam links; but according to Recode, the amount of legitimate things serial Facebook oversharers actually post is almost negligible.

"Those links [are] way disproportionately problematic. They’re very often either click-bait or sensationalism or false news," says Adam Mosseri, Facebook's News Feed VP. "It’s one of the strongest signals we’ve ever found for identifying a broad range of problematic content."

Facebook have been making serious efforts to crack down on the rise of fake news over the past six months; and if that means seeing less of your slightly more racist uncle on your news feed from time to time, then we welcome it...

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